Steve Kanellakos resigns as city manager ahead of LRT inquiry report

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Veteran metropolis supervisor Steve Kanellakos resigned his publish at metropolis corridor on Monday.

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It’s an abrupt departure that follows many years of labor within the municipal paperwork, and one which Kanellakos says he’s deemed applicable forward of the discharge of the findings of the provincial inquiry into Ottawa’s LRT system.

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In a letter to all metropolis workers, launched to the media, Kanellakos stated he knowledgeable the mayor Monday that it might be his final day within the position he’s held since 2016. His exit was completely of his personal selecting, Kanellakos wrote.

“I’m certain there might be hypothesis concerning the causes for my departure at the moment. This resolution is mine and mine alone. Nobody requested me to depart.”

Kanellakos’s departure comes two days earlier than the primary common assembly of the brand new metropolis council, in addition to the discharge of the ultimate report by the fee main the inquiry, initiated by the province, into the primary, problem-plagued part of Ottawa’s LRT system.

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“I’ve at all times deeply believed in management accountability. As metropolis supervisor, I’m in the end accountable for the efficiency of the group. I’ve at all times deeply believed that my position is to have your backs and that it’s my responsibility to simply accept final duty for our efficiency,” Kanellakos wrote to workers, happening to notice the LRT report’s upcoming launch.

Whereas he didn’t have advance information of what it might discover or advocate, Kanellakos stated, “I do consider, based mostly on the road of questioning and strategy taken by the Fee, that the report might be essential of the Metropolis of Ottawa and Metropolis workers.

“Regardless of this, I do know that Metropolis workers did their greatest underneath very troublesome circumstances to make sure that the sunshine rail system would meet all of our expectations.”

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Kanellakos returned to Ottawa to take town supervisor’s job in 2016, after roughly a 12 months away in the identical position on the Metropolis of Vaughan. Previous to leaving for the GTA job, Kanellakos held deputy metropolis supervisor roles between 2004 and 2015.  

In his departure letter, he said his perception “that that is the time to do the fitting factor and permit the group to discover a new chief who can cope with implementing the suggestions from the inquiry unfettered from the lengthy complicated historical past of the undertaking or the findings of the fee report.”

In an announcement Monday, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe thanked Kanellakos for his service and stated he revered his resolution, which had been to submit his resignation earlier within the day, “efficient instantly.”

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Sutcliffe stated he can be bringing ahead a movement at Wednesday’s council assembly to nominate town’s chief monetary officer Wendy Stephanson as performing metropolis supervisor. She would proceed to steer the finance providers division via the 2023 finances course of, stated Sutcliffe, and had already agreed to tackle the extra position.

At the least one metropolis councillor will not be pleased with Kanellakos’s resolution.

Jessica Bradley, elected final month to characterize Gloucester-Southgate, tweeted that town supervisor’s announcement was “surprising.

“Council is going through quite a lot of challenges (OLRT inquiry, Invoice 23, Finances) and this transfer is extremely destabilizing for the group,” stated Bradley, who spent greater than a decade as an govt assistant to her ward’s former councillor Diane Deans.

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Kanellakos was amongst those that testified earlier than the LRT fee throughout televised public hearings that stretched from mid-June to early July, as a part of its probe into the circumstances that led to the derailments and breakdowns alongside the Confederation Line. 

As metropolis supervisor, Kanellakos’s authority prolonged to creating choices on the undertaking, together with negotiating, approving, executing, delivering, amending or extending the settlement. 

In his departure letter, Kanellakos mirrored on the quite a few crises workers have navigated over his seven years within the high municipal job in addition to their “outstanding achievements.” 

“The individuals who work on the Metropolis of Ottawa are the rationale I bought up every single day to come back to work. For me it’s at all times been about serving our folks in order that they might present the very best service to our residents. My respect and admiration for all of you is limitless.

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“Thanks for the help you will have given me over so a few years. I’m deeply grateful for that reward. After nearly 38 years of service, it’s time for me to be a pal to me.

I’m going for a protracted stroll….”

Council employed Kanellakos as metropolis supervisor in February 2016 for a five-year time period at $319,000 yearly, and after a efficiency assessment, voted in November 2020 to increase his contract till Could 15, 2023.

Former mayor Jim Watson moved the movement for the extension, which said that doing so would offer stability to the municipal group through the pandemic. It will additionally give the brand new council sufficient time to undertake a recruitment course of to rent their very own metropolis supervisor, the movement famous. The extension included a clause that Kanellakos’s employment may very well be terminated earlier, in accordance with provisions in his contract.

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With the brand new robust mayor regime imposed by the province, Mayor Sutcliffe has the authority to nominate a metropolis supervisor with out council approval. However he’s said repeatedly that he wouldn’t use these powers.

A graduate of Carleton College, twice over, with bachelor’s and grasp’s levels in public administration, Kanellakos bought his begin as director of the previous metropolis of Gloucester’s police service in 1989. He then grew to become director-general of the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Service in 1995 and moved into the position of basic supervisor of emergency and protecting providers on the Metropolis of Ottawa in 2000. He’s remained a part of town’s management, other than his Vaughan sojourn, ever since. 

tblewett@postmedia.com